


Pepper

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [485]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Natasha works for SHIELD, Pepper always runs SI, Pepper is kidnapped in Afganistan, Pepper rescues herself, and also dates Pepper, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 07:38:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: Pepper gets kidnapped in Afghanistan. And then she finds her own way out.





	1. Chapter 1

Pepper tries negotiating, because that’s what she’s good at. She’s brought boards and entire companies to their knees, ended hostile takeovers with a few well-placed maneuvers, guided Potts Industries with a careful, sure had for nearly two decades. She knows how to get what she wants. She knows how to figure out what other people want.

What they want is simple, and they’re more than eager to tell her. They want Potts Industries weapons. They want her to give them trade secrets, sign off on delivery orders. And for that, they promise they will let her live.

Pepper has made it too long in the industry to take them at their word.

Negotiating is out. And Natalie, or whatever her name really is, she’s taught Pepper a few things, but Pepper has a battery in her chest, and while she’d prefer not to think about it, it remains and she has to take it into consideration.

“You’ll have to give them what they want,” the doctor says.

“I will not,” Pepper retorts. She sighs. “I need you to tell me everything about every person you’ve run across here.”

“What good will that do you?”

“I’m a CEO,” she says. “Before that, I was a exec, and a division head and a project leader and a team manager. I know people.”

*

Weak links are something a CEO never wants to see but has to have keen eyes for nonetheless. Pepper’s skills include understanding how a structure works–any structure, not just her own business or else she wouldn’t be much use in acquiring assets–breaking that down, and understanding where people fit into that and why. When people don’t fit quite right, they’re exploitable, something a CEO never wants but a captive desperately needs.

“It’s suicide,” Yinsen says.

“My…secretary is coming for me,” Pepper says. It sounds ridiculous, but she knows full well Natalie isn’t just a secretary. And she knows full well Natalie would never leave her here. “That means I have help, on the other side. I just need to get a signal out.”

“And your signal is an explosion?”

“I did learn something in the labs,” she says. “Like how to make things explode.”

*

In the end, Pepper sets up a bomb with the doctor’s help and gets a gun off one of the men, one who is too easily distracted by a pretty woman to really focus on his job.

She closes her eyes when she shoots him in the chest.

“That was really violent,” she says, breathing heavy already and they haven’t even started yet, resolutely not looking at the dead man on the ground.

“There will be more, and it will get uglier,” Yinsen warns.

It’s a trail off blood and fire on the way out, and the only moment Pepper will ever remember clearly is Yinsen taking a bullet meant for her. She remembers bullets flying and still, laying him on the ground, and watching the life leave the man’s eyes. Hears him tell her to go but still hesitates.

He’s dead. He’s dead and she can’t change it. She’ll cry later, do something for his memory, but only if she lives, so she grabs a bigger gun off one of the bodies and goes towards the cave entrance, leaving the blood and fire behind, knowing, just knowing, Natalie is headed her way.


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper thinks it might be a hallucination. She’s not sure how long she’s gone without water, and the sun’s been beating her to death for days. Hallucinations are not unexpected.

But the hand helping her to her feet feels real. “You…look really good in leather,” Pepper manages, looking Natalie up and down. The catsuit is an…interesting choice. Definitely not something she’s seen Natalie in before.

She smiles, soft and private the way Pepper’s only seen her do for her. “Thanks,” she says. “You…do not look so good.”

Well, Pepper’s always appreciated Natalie’s honesty, at least. And she’s right. She’s beaten and bruised, cut and scraped, probably sunburnt to all hell, malnourished and dehydrated.

Not to mention, she’s trailing a car battery, holding it very carefully in one arm, lest it become disconnected from her chest.

Natalie looks closely at it. Pepper wants to cover herself, but she’s only got the one available hand. “I think we can fix that,” she says. “We know a guy. You’d like him. Well, you’d probably hate him, but then you’d tell me to send the recruiters after him. He’ll be able to do better.”

“Can he get rid of the shrapnel?” Pepper asks.

“We’ll see,” Natalie says. “For now, let’s get you…somewhere else. Out of the sun.”

She keeps one hand on Pepper’s free elbow, guiding her towards the helicopter, helping her inside. Once she’s inside, Pepper sets the battery on her own lap and accepts the bottle of water handed to her, gulping it greedily.

“Slow,” Natalie warns. “Or you’ll just throw it up.”

Pepper frowns at her but slows it down, taking measured sips.

“Romanoff,” someone grunts.

Natalie nods. “Take off,” she instructs.

“Romanoff?” Pepper asks. “You told me…” She told her her last name was Rushman. Natalie Rushman, and Pepper’s always had her doubts. She’s a competent PA, a more than competent PA, but she seems to be something else, too. A little too aware. A little too busy.

“I’ve told you a lot of things,” Natalie says, looking Pepper straight in the eyes.

Pepper’s always known Natalie was coming for her, not a doubt in her mind. She’s never questioned why she believed that, why she believed so strongly her PA and newfound girlfriend would come find her in the desert, in the clutches of terrorists. “How did you find me?”

Natalie grimaces. “When we land, when we get a chance to be just us…I have some things to tell you,” she admits.

Pepper knows that that moment isn’t going to come for quite some time. She’s the CEO of a major international corporation, she has shareholders and board members and the press, and she’s been missing for three months. She has decisions to make and acts to take.

But she also knows Natalie will keep her promises. She’ll get Pepper help, and she’ll tell her everything, just like she said.


End file.
